Determining the optimum coverage position in a building for externally provided RF signals

ABSTRACT

A system and method are disclosed for determining a location to position an RF signal repeater within a structure, based on the position having the highest probability of being the location of the highest probable RF signal strength.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 120 to U.S. application Ser. No. 15/227,915, filed Aug. 3,2016, allowed, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S.Provisional patent application No. 62/200,119 filed Aug. 3, 2015, eachof which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter described herein relates to determining the optimumposition for wireless coverage inside a building.

BACKGROUND

Wireless signals can be affected by the structure of a building. This isparticularly true for cellular wireless signals. Positioning a wirelesssignal repeater, such as a cellular signal repeater inside or near thebuilding can improve the wireless signal coverage in the building.

SUMMARY

Knowing where in a home or business the best cellular coverage is can beimportant in a number of different cases. For example, when a cellularsignal router, such as an LTE router, is used as a repeater to provideInternet access to a home, the best location for the LTE router is inthe part of the home that has the best LTE signal coverage. This canhelp provide ensure the highest throughput achievable. As anotherexample, when a signal booster is deployed in a home, the donor antennafor the signal booster should be placed in the area of the home with thebest signal coverage.

Implementations of the current subject matter can include, but are notlimited to, methods consistent with the descriptions provided herein aswell as articles that comprise a tangibly embodied machine-readablemedium operable to cause one or more machines (e.g., computers, etc.) toresult in operations implementing one or more of the described features.Similarly, computer systems are also described that may include one ormore processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or moreprocessors. A memory, which can include a computer-readable storagemedium, may include, encode, store, or the like one or more programsthat cause one or more processors to perform one or more of theoperations described herein. Computer implemented methods consistentwith one or more implementations of the current subject matter can beimplemented by one or more data processors residing in a singlecomputing system or multiple computing systems. Such multiple computingsystems can be connected and can exchange data and/or commands or otherinstructions or the like via one or more connections, including but notlimited to a connection over a network (e.g. the Internet, a wirelesswide area network, a local area network, a wide area network, a wirednetwork, or the like), via a direct connection between one or more ofthe multiple computing systems, etc.

Implementations of the current subject matter can provide one or moreadvantages. For example, determining the optimum position inside aposition to position a cellular signal repeater.

The details of one or more variations of the subject matter describedherein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the descriptionbelow. Other features and advantages of the subject matter describedherein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from theclaims. While certain features of the currently disclosed subject matterare described for illustrative purposes in relation to a softwaresystem, software architecture, or software/hardware architecture, itshould be readily understood that such features are not intended to belimiting. The claims that follow this disclosure are intended to definethe scope of the protected subject matter.

DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, show certain aspects of the subject matterdisclosed herein and, together with the description, help explain someof the principles associated with the disclosed implementations. In thedrawings,

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless repeater being located within a structureof a building to communicate signals between an external base stationand a mobile unit.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for determining an optimal coveragepoint in a building for a wireless repeater.

When practical, similar reference numbers denote similar structures,features, or elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Determining a position in a building with the highest cellular coverage,such as LTE coverage, can provide a number of benefits. Providing acellular repeater, such as an LTE router, at the location of the highestcellular signal within the building can assist in providing the highestpossible level of coverage throughout the rest of the building. Whilethe description herein describes LTE signals, this disclosure isapplicable to all wireless signal types. Such signal types include, butare not limited to LTE, GSM, CDMA, 3G, MM, MM, RR, BSMAP, GPRS, EDGE,UMTS, TDMA, and/or other cellular signal types and/or protocols.

An LTE router, used as a repeater, can provide Internet access throughthe LTE network to parts of the building that otherwise would not havesufficient LTE signal strength. Placing the LTE router at the locationof the highest LTE signal level within the building can facilitateproviding LTE coverage to more of the building than would otherwise beachievable. When a signal booster, or signal repeater, is deployed in abuilding, the donor antenna for the signal booster/repeater should beplaced in the area of the home with the best signal coverage.

The position for a cellular repeater is typically determined by using ahandset associated with that cellular signal/protocol and walkingthrough the building while noting the number of signal bars beingdisplayed on the handset. The more signal bars the phone shows, thestronger the signal, and consequently, the better the location forpositioning the repeater. However, current implementations of the signalbars on a handset do not necessarily reflect signal strength. Forexample the popular iPhone as well as the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphonesuse signal quality to drive the number of bars being displayed. Signalquality is influenced by a number of factors such as interference andnot only signal strength. Therefore, it is not feasible to use a handsetto find the best coverage spot. As an alternative, some handsets willnow allow a special code to be entered into the phone to allow for thesignal bars to represent signal strength only and not other factors aswell. Such a solution is extremely cumbersome. Special test handsetswith test software can be used to get detailed RF signal strength data.Such tools are reserved for profession RF installers.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 that includes a building 102 defined bya structure 104. The structure 104 can have any number of walls,ceilings, floors, etc. Within the structure, a wireless repeater 106 islocated, an preferably located according to the methods describedherein, to take advantage of an optimal position relative to signalstrength, signal quality, and other factors of RF communications betweena base transceiver system 101 and a mobile unit 103 located within orproximate to the structure 104 of the building 102.

A system and method is provided to calculate a location within abuilding at which to place a wireless repeater. The system uses signalstrength from an external cellular-signal base station and also signalquality data. The system can include a database that includes strengthmeasurements at specific geographic locations for particularcellular-signal protocols. The information provided in the database canbe translated into a cellular signal “heat map.” Such “heat maps” canshow the coverage signal levels at specific coordinates. An example ofsuch a heat map service is the offering from www.sensorly.com.

The system can be configured to determine the geographical coordinates,such as GPS coordinates, and/or the address of the structure to beanalyzed. The structure position and orientation can be obtained frompublically available databases. Such databases can be databases thatinclude image information and location information. One such databaseincludes Google Earth. The position and orientation data of thestructure to be analyzed can be superimposed on the heat map data. Theface of the structure that has the highest probability to have the bestcellular signal coverage for the particular cellular signal/protocol canbe determined based on the size, position and orientation of thebuilding and the heat map data.

Geographic information can be taken into account when determining whichface of the structure can have the highest probability of having thebest cellular signal coverage. Natural and man-made impediments to thesignal can be determined. For example, man-made impediments to signalstrength and/or quality can include buildings, bridges, and/or otherman-made structures. Natural impediments to signal strength can includehills, mountains, out-cropping's, cliff faces, trees and/or othernatural impediments. The man-made and natural impediments to signalstrength/quality can be determined based on images taken of the ground,database entries, geographic survey information and/or otherinformation. Signal impediments can be any impediment to radio-frequencysignals.

The system can be configured to initiate one or more processes toidentify the face of the structure having the highest probability ofhaving the highest signal strength to a user of the system. The processcan be configured to receive, as inputs to determine which face of thestructure has the highest probability of having the highest signalstrength: the geographic location of a structure; the orientation of thestructure; geographical and physical RF signal impairment structures;average measured RF signal strengths (typically from either networkprovided data or crow soured data) for a particular RF signal; specificsignal strengths for specific cell towers within range of the structure;and cell tower locations.

The process described herein can be implemented on a computing systemwith an RF transceiver that is configured to provide an indication tousers of the face of a structure having the highest probability of thehighest RF signal strength from one or more external base stations. Theprocess can be configured to indicate the most probable area in astructure where the coverage is most likely the best position forpositioning a RF signal repeater.

The structure being analyzed can be displayed relative to a map or asatellite image of the geographic area where the structure is located.The determined location for the RF signal repeater can be displayedrelative to the map or satellite image.

The signal strength of the RF signal can be measured at the determinedlocation for the RF signal repeater. The measured signal strength can beprovided to the signal strength database. When the RF signal repeater isdeployed in the structure, the RF signal strength as measured by the RFsignal repeater can be uploaded to the RF signal provider and maintainedat a signal strength database.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for determining an optimal coveragepoint in a building for a wireless repeater. At 202, a signal strengthof an RF signal from an external cellular base station is determined.The base station is external to the structure of a building in which awireless repeater is to be located. The signal strength can be measuredby a computer having an RF transceiver. At 204, a signal quality isdetermined, based on a cellular signal protocol employed by the basestation. The computer can store specifications of the protocol anddetermine the quality against the specifications.

At 206, the computer generates a map of the building to represent thesignal strength and signal quality. At 208 the computer determines thegeographic coordinates of the structure that defines the buildings. Suchcoordinates can be obtained from available databases. At 210, thecomputer superimposes the graphical representation of the map of thestructure with the geographical coordinates, to determine, at 212, aface or other feature of the structure having the optimal cellularsignal coverage. At 214, the results are stored in a database, foraccess and use by the computer for future installations of a wirelessrepeater.

One or more aspects or features of the subject matter described hereincan be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) computer hardware, firmware,software, and/or combinations thereof. These various aspects or featurescan include implementation in one or more computer programs that areexecutable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including atleast one programmable processor, which can be special or generalpurpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmitdata and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device,and at least one output device. The programmable system or computingsystem may include clients and servers. A client and server aregenerally remote from each other and typically interact through acommunication network. The relationship of client and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other.

These computer programs, which can also be referred to programs,software, software applications, applications, components, or code,include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can beimplemented in a high-level procedural language, an object-orientedprogramming language, a functional programming language, a logicalprogramming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As usedherein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computerprogram product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magneticdiscs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs),used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmableprocessor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machineinstructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readablesignal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/ordata to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium can storesuch machine instructions non-transitorily, such as for example as woulda non-transient solid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or anyequivalent storage medium. The machine-readable medium can alternativelyor additionally store such machine instructions in a transient manner,such as for example as would a processor cache or other random accessmemory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

To provide for interaction with a user, one or more aspects or featuresof the subject matter described herein can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, such as for example a cathode ray tube (CRT) ora liquid crystal display (LCD) or a light emitting diode (LED) monitorfor displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice, such as for example a mouse or a trackball, by which the usermay provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used toprovide for interaction with a user as well. For example, feedbackprovided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, such as forexample visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; andinput from the user may be received in any form, including, but notlimited to, acoustic, speech, or tactile input. Other possible inputdevices include, but are not limited to, touch screens or othertouch-sensitive devices such as single or multi-point resistive orcapacitive trackpads, voice recognition hardware and software, opticalscanners, optical pointers, digital image capture devices and associatedinterpretation software, and the like.

In the descriptions above and in the claims, phrases such as “at leastone of” or “one or more of” may occur followed by a conjunctive list ofelements or features. The term “and/or” may also occur in a list of twoor more elements or features. Unless otherwise implicitly or explicitlycontradicted by the context in which it used, such a phrase is intendedto mean any of the listed elements or features individually or any ofthe recited elements or features in combination with any of the otherrecited elements or features. For example, the phrases “at least one ofA and B;” “one or more of A and B;” and “A and/or B” are each intendedto mean “A alone, B alone, or A and B together.” A similarinterpretation is also intended for lists including three or more items.For example, the phrases “at least one of A, B, and C;” “one or more ofA, B, and C;” and “A, B, and/or C” are each intended to mean “A alone, Balone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, orA and B and C together.” Use of the term “based on,” above and in theclaims is intended to mean, “based at least in part on,” such that anunrecited feature or element is also permissible.

The subject matter described herein can be embodied in systems,apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desiredconfiguration. The implementations set forth in the foregoingdescription do not represent all implementations consistent with thesubject matter described herein. Instead, they are merely some examplesconsistent with aspects related to the described subject matter.Although a few variations have been described in detail above, othermodifications or additions are possible. In particular, further featuresand/or variations can be provided in addition to those set forth herein.For example, the implementations described above can be directed tovarious combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed featuresand/or combinations and subcombinations of several further featuresdisclosed above. In addition, the logic flows depicted in theaccompanying figures and/or described herein do not necessarily requirethe particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. Other implementations may be within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining, by a computingsystem, a signal strength and a signal quality of an RF signal from anexternal cellular base station at a plurality of locations within astructure of a building; determining, by the computing system,geographical coordinates that define the structure of the building;determining, by the computing system, at least one face of the structurehaving an optimal cellular signal coverage based on at least onecellular signal protocol, the geographical coordinates that define thestructure of the building, and the signal quality; and generating, bythe computing system, a map of the structure that provides a graphicalrepresentation of the signal strength and signal quality of the RFsignal from the external cellular base station, the graphicalrepresentation including a depiction of a location within the buildingat which to place a wireless repeater.
 2. The method in accordance withclaim 1, wherein the face of the structure is defined by a size, aposition and an orientation.
 3. The method in accordance with claim 2,further comprising storing, by the computing system, the size, theposition and the orientation in a database associated with the computingsystem.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographical coordinatesare global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein the geographical coordinates are an address of the building.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a position ofthe structure and an orientation of the structure from a database, thedatabase including image information and location information of thebuilding.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: placing a donorantenna of the wireless repeater on the determined face of thestructure.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningman-made and natural impediments to signal strength or quality based onimages taken of the ground, the images retrieved from a database.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one face of thebuilding is performed using at least: a geographic location of thebuilding; an orientation of the building; geographical and physical RFsignal impairment structures; average measured RF signal strengths for aparticular RF signal; signal strengths for cell towers within range ofthe building; and cell tower locations.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising: uploading measured RF signal strength to an RFsignal provider; and maintaining the measured RF signal strength at asignal strength database.
 11. A system comprising: a computing systemincluding at least one programmable processor, the computing systemincluding a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one programmable processor, causethe at least one programmable processor to perform operationscomprising: determining, by the computing system, a signal strength anda signal quality of an RF signal from an external cellular base stationat a plurality of locations within a structure of a building;determining, by the computing system, geographical coordinates thatdefine the structure of the building; determining, by the computingsystem, at least one face of the structure having an optimal cellularsignal coverage based on at least one cellular signal protocol, thegeographical coordinates that define the structure of the building, andthe signal quality; and generating, by the computing system, a map ofthe structure that provides a graphical representation of the signalstrength and signal quality of the RF signal from the external cellularbase station, the graphical representation including a depiction of alocation within the building at which to place a wireless repeater. 12.The system in accordance with claim 11, wherein the face of thestructure is defined by a size, a position and an orientation.
 13. Thesystem in accordance with claim 12, further comprising storing, by thecomputing system, the size, the position and the orientation in adatabase associated with the computing system.
 14. The system of claim11, wherein the geographical coordinates are global positioning system(GPS) coordinates.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the geographicalcoordinates are an address of the building.
 16. The system of claim 11,the operations further comprising: obtaining a position of the structureand an orientation of the structure from a database, the databaseincluding image information and location information of the building.17. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:determining man-made and natural impediments to signal strength orquality based on images taken of the ground, the images retrieved from adatabase.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein determining the at leastone face of the building is performed using at least: a geographiclocation of the building; an orientation of the building; geographicaland physical RF signal impairment structures; average measured RF signalstrengths for a particular RF signal; signal strengths for cell towerswithin range of the building; and cell tower locations.
 19. A computerprogram product comprising a non-transitory machine-readable mediumstoring instructions that, when executed by at least one programmableprocessor, cause the at least one programmable processor to performoperations comprising: determining, by the computing system, a signalstrength and a signal quality of an RF signal from an external cellularbase station at a plurality of locations within a structure of abuilding; determining, by the computing system, geographical coordinatesthat define the structure of the building; determining, by the computingsystem, at least one face of the structure having an optimal cellularsignal coverage based on at least one cellular signal protocol, thegeographical coordinates that define the structure of the building, andthe signal quality; and generating, by the computing system, a map ofthe structure that provides a graphical representation of the signalstrength and signal quality of the RF signal from the external cellularbase station, the graphical representation including a depiction of alocation within the building at which to place a wireless repeater.